Atherosclerosis is marked by the buildup of inflammatory cells which narrow arteries to the point of chest pain and muscle weakness. Severe cases result in lesions and internal ruptures of arteries or even thrombosis in coronary arteries. One way that investigators are working to understand how atherosclerosis occurs and progresses is by looking at long…
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Systemic sclerosis is an autoimmune disease associated with inflammation and fibrosis, or scarring, that affects organs including the skin, heart, kidney and lungs. This form of scleroderma, this tightening and thickening of the skin, is a progressive, orphan illness that affects approximately 80,000 Americans and has no clear pathogenesis or FDA approved treatment option, leaving…
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In a new paper published in Stem Cell Reports, Bhanu Telugu and co-inventor Chi-Hun Park of the University of Maryland (UMD) Department of Animal and Avian Sciences show for the first time that newly established stem cells from pigs, when injected into embryos, contributed to the development of only the organ of interest (the embryonic…
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Researchers at the Center for Health Outcomes and Policy Research (CHOPR) at the University of Pennsylvania School of Nursing, conducting independent research on whether pending nurse staffing legislation in New York state is in the public’s interest, found that the wide variation in patient-to-nurse ratios across hospitals in New York is contributing to avoidable deaths…
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December 17, 2020 — An opinion piece published today online in BMJ by Nina Schwalbe in the Heilbrunn Department of Population and Family Health at Columbia Mailman School of Public Health, calls for a national vaccine strategy now that COVID-19 vaccines are available. Schwalbe writes that a lack of clarity on a distribution plan sets…
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One consequence of the COVID-19 pandemic is that more families are putting off their children’s preventive care visits, causing pediatric providers to worry about missed vaccines. In a recent study published in Pediatrics, researchers at Nationwide Children’s Hospital evaluated changes in measles vaccination rates from before the pandemic to this summer, when return for clinical…
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Dental procedures can pose a high risk of viral transmission because the tools that are used often produce aerosols, which can contain high numbers SARS-CoV-2 virions, copies of the virus causing COVID-19. The aerosols are generated when saliva mixes with water and air streams used in dental procedures. As a result, access to routine dentistry…
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As boxes of Pfizer vaccines began arriving around the country this week, hospital pharmacists made a surprising discovery: Some of the glass vials that are supposed to hold five doses contained enough for a sixth — or even a seventh — person. The news prompted a flurry of excited exchanges on Twitter and pharmacy message…
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Welcome. We’re expecting a storm today, in the Mid-Atlantic and Northeastern U.S., the sort of blanketing that for children growing up in colder climes has long brought anticipation of the most delicious sort: Will schools be closed? Will we spend a day inside in our pajamas? Surely there’ll be sledding, snowmen and snow angels. An…
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More than 100,000 varieties of face masks are currently for sale. They come in silk, cotton and synthetics; with filters and without; over-the-head and over-the-ears. They have sparkles and sunflowers; friendly greetings and insults; cartoon characters and teeny reindeer. What they don’t have is a label that shows how well they block infectious particles, an…
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